Thursday, April 23, 2009

Boudoir!

For those of you blissfully unaware, The Wife has started a photography business, Lisa on Location. This explains, in a small way, my obsession with photography the past couple of years--I'm trying to keep up with her so as not to prove a family embarrassment. Of course, the derisive "Lensboy" moniker she's bestowed upon me don't help that situation too much.

Anyhoo, weddings, bridals and engagement sessions are to make up a significant percentage of her business, according to the business plan. Into this mix, she is also offering bridal boudoir, a sensual style that's grown in popularity in recent years. As a quick Google search reveals some consider any use of the word "boudoir" to be synonymous with "nekkid pictures" it became obvious we needed to build up the portfolio to show exactly the type of photography being offered by Lisa on Location. So, after more than six weeks of planning, scheduling conflicts and assorted other shenanigans, we got together with a number of models over the weekend and had ourselves a grand old shoot. When I wasn't working logistics or adjusting the lighting, I managed to pick up my own camera a few times and squeeze off some shots. A few were even halfways decent. Here's a couple:

That we got anything usable at all is a minor miracle. At one point, every single model who'd committed to the shoot backed out, leaving me scrambling to find replacements. The makeup artist who'd committed never showed, despite assuring us that day she was actually on her way. The first model scheduled showed up two hours late, after we'd already begun working with the one scheduled to come after her, and thereby managed to muck up the entire schedule. Instead of one model at a time, we were juggling no less than two constantly. Add in the models' respective escorts, and you can imagine how crowded things got.

On the technical side, since we only have one external flash for the cameras--my 430EX Speedlite--The Wife used it exclusively to trigger the optically-slaved umbrella strobes, leaving me relegated to using the fast 50mm lens and available light. Limited as I was, I'm happy with the shots I got. I just wish I'd had the opportunity to be involved more thorougly. On the bright side, The Wife used the new Tamron 28-75mm lens we'd gotten for her camera, and it performed admirably.

But before the next big shoot we have, I'm getting her an external flash of her own!